My Perspective On What It Takes To Be A Great Leader ?

Leadership in this 21st century is quite often linked with business world, but you can’t truly understand what is leadership if you only see it within the pedigree of business and management, Leadership skills are required the most when you are not acting within predefined set of rules , here you have to have a vision to understand the situation and respond accordingly, your actions needs to speak volume and inspire millions to chase their dreams relentlessly. Leaders have the greater responsibility and accountability to whatever act they perform. They share the success but own the failures individually. Greatest leaders of all time never practised the concept of me first they always believed in sharing and caring startegy.

John Quincy Adams once said -

. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

One of the greatest epitome of true leadership was Nelson Mandela (Mandiba) some of his inspiring thoughts are still very relevant and we can easily figure out the true leadership quality one needs to have to be an inspiring leader.

Nelson Mandela used to say :-

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being an optimist is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.”

“There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lies defeat and death.”

“Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others — qualities which are within easy reach of every soul — are the foundation of one’s spiritual life.”

Top 5 Leadership Quality That Will Make You A Great Leader :

if you would have kept your mind wide open while reading the sayings of great Nelson Mandela mentioned above you can understand what it takes to be a truly great leader. Based on my personal entrepreneurial experiences and study of some great leaders i would like to share the top 5 important

leadership traits which can guide you to grow and help others grow.

1. Empathy :

Great leaders care for others feelings, they are compassionate even to their wrong doers. One of the great quality which made Mandela the greatest leaders was that he had the capacity to transcend himself for the sake of those around him and higher causes. Feeling compassion for those who had caused him pain and his desire for reconciliation makes him a true leader who inspired the entire generation & continues to do so.

If you can’t feel what other people around you feel you are lifeless. Lifeless people are very often controlling in nature and this can lead to true disaster specially if you are in leadership position.

“Great leaders don’t control they allow others to take charge , and they take charge of others feelings”

2. Willingness To Serve : They are People Focus

When you are in a position of leadership (in any organisation) you should never forget that you are into a business of serving the people first who you are responsible to lead and then that team is accountable to serve the end consumer. C level executives has major responsibility to serve the team who are responsible to serve the client or consumer, but unfortunately they are concerned more about generating profits for their investor and less about people who are looking up to them.

3 .Solid Conviction : They Take Risk And Persist

Mahatma Gandhi & Nelson Mandela had the strong believe and vision for cause they were fighting for, irrespective of immense adversity their faith was rock solid , for them the cause(service to the nation/masses) had the highest priority than their own individual well being . Leaders who has the purpose larger than their individual welfare and whose actions are directed towards people well being, are generally blessed with rock solid conviction. They are not afraid of taking bold steps, they lead from front and set an example to be followed.

4. They Give Credit To Others :

Impactful leaders don’t believe in taking the credits they give credit to the team for all the success and are willing to own the failures themselves. This one trait can be be found in every single great leaders. They know the value of empowering people, they understand that until the troop is well served and empowered they can’t fight the bigger battle

5. They Are Not Manager They Are Creators :

Great leaders never try to manage the people they allow the people around them to develop the required assets so that the entire team is well equipped to fight for the larger cause. They set the clear cut vision for all the team members and set them free to deliver the results. Leaders are fully aware of the fact that if things are not working as per the desired plan there must be something wrong with their own leadership styles and try to improve by seeking the feedback from their team members. They are futuristics in their approach of leading so they try to prepare the future leaders from their team members who can pursue on their own when situation is not congenial.

True leaders invest on people and give them the right tool to flourish

Nutshell :

Great leaders quests for a larger cause and want to leave impact by paving the path which can guide others to flourish. They Start first but are happy to end up last in the race of life. They don't live to prove they learn and help others to improve.